DAY SIX
FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2025
ICE FISHING & SÁMI HERITAGE
Today’s main activity was called “From Lake to Plate,” and had us learning the Finnish technique of ice fishing, followed by cooking the fish that we caught for a fresh lunch. I was more than happy to participate in the activity, but glad that there was a vegetarian option for the actual meal haha.
Our group ready to go on this sunny day!
We took the short walk from the Lodge to Lake Inari that we were now getting used to, and hopped into two snowmobile sleighs to head out to the middle of the lake for our fishing excursion.
MVP of the day!
We arrived at our base camp area and were joined by one of the guides for the day, along with his adorable dog Mr. Huu. Needless to say, we were all instantly Mr. Huu fans. After adding the necessary gear to our sleighs, we headed back out to a seemingly random part of the middle of the lake to start our fishing activity.
Mr. Huu living his best snow running life
When I heard we were ice fishing, I figured it’d be, like, Charlie Brown squatting with a little fishing pole and a string dropped through a hole in the ice. I was very wrong, and this is such a simple but sophisticated method of fishing. Not that I know a single thing about fishing haha, but I was impressed by how well-planned and organized it all was.
The fishermen here plant a series of nets under the ice at the beginning of winter while the ice is still shallow, and mark where they’re dropped with a tall ‘net threader’ stick sticking up from the ice. We started at the first stick, and the guides showed us how to use this kind of hardcore jackhammer corkscrew power tool to drill down into the ice.
Throughout the step by step process, we each had a chance to try part of it, and I volunteered for the drill. That ice is no joke! You’re squeezing a big button with your right hand to power the drill, while putting all of your weight on it to drill down through about three feet of solid ice. Even with that power tool it took a lot of effort! But it’s very satisfying when you finally break through the bottom into the frozen water below.
Here I am drilling. And not considering that I should’ve taken off my bulky bag 🤗
Once we have a hole, you use a frying pan looking thing (might have just been a frying pan haha) to scoop the slush out of the hole to make room for the net. Then you use a long hook to reach in and grab the net.
The first net unfortunately hadn’t caught anything, so we put it back and moved onto the next one. But now we had a better idea of what to expect.
And over the course of several drill hole stops, we ended up catching some fish! Sarah became our go-to fish gutter, happily taking that on and doing a great job. We caught whitefish, perch, and one or two Arctic char, though they only used the whitefish and perch to make lunch as the char is (apparently) too nice a fish for open fire grilling – they presumably took that back to the restaurant.
While we were catching lunch, we were also having a good time playing with Mr Huu and just enjoying the sunny day out in a beautiful landscape.
After we had caught all of the fish we needed, we got back on the snowmobile sleighs and headed back to the main camp site where we had picked up our gear. There, some of us warmed up in the teepee around a fire with hot berry juice, while the guides started to grill the fish we had caught and prepare lunch.
While lunch was being prepared, we had the opportunity to learn the more manual technique of ice fishing with an ice auger, a handheld corkscrew thing. A few of went to check it out (it was starting to feel pretty cold at this point so it definitely took some effort to go back outside haha), but it was worth seeing the demo for sure. The guide said that we’d be very unlikely to get all the way through the ice – I knew how much effort it took with the power tool to drill down, so I had no doubt she was right – but it was fun to try. She did give us a big “watch where you step” warning, with a colorful anecdote, that the bottom of the auger is incredibly sharp and that the nearest hospital is over two hours away, so I took the warning as a sign and headed safely back to the teepee after seeing the basic demo. 😳
Finally, it was time to eat. Everyone got a whole fish along with some homemade potato salad, which happened to be particularly great potato salad. A few of us had pre-opted for a vegetarian meal instead of the fish, which turned out to be a hot vegetable puree soup with croutons that absolutely hit the spot on this cold day.
Couldn’t ask for a more perfect day for hot soup!
After that delicious meal and good conversation, it was time to get back in our sleigh for the ride back to the lodge.
This afternoon was a free afternoon before the night activity of snowshoeing, and for the most part, everyone did their own thing. I rested for a little while and then wanted to check out the local Siida Museum. Just a short walk across the street from our lodge, and dedicated to the Sámi culture and local nature, this little museum in the middle of the wilderness was voted the 2024 European Museum of Year!
It’s not a huge museum, and didn’t take long to walk through, but it was definitely worth the visit as it was a really nicely curated collection that was beautifully displayed. After spending yesterday with our Sámi guide during our reindeer excursion, I felt well-educated on the culture, and so had some new familiarity with what I was seeing!
After walking through the galleries, I spent a little time in the shop (forgot to take a picture; this is from the museum website), and walked back across the bridge and some beautiful scenery back to the lodge.
Eventually it was our group’s time for dinner, and we had another winner: pumpkin soup, an excellent steak (glad I was able to opt for the regular meal tonight), and a crumble and cream things with berries for dessert, along with a pot of cardamom coffee.
The group activity tonight was a snowshoe trek to see the Northern Lights. Knowing that my lungs haven’t been the best and how much of a major cardio workout snowshoeing is, I decided to forego the trek and just relax in the lodge for the night. (A couple of others did too.) I ended up grabbing a spot on the couch in front of the fireplace with a hot chai latte, and relaxed while starting to sort and edit my photos.
While most of the group was out snowshoeing, someone shared a couple of photos in our WhatsApp group of the bright pink aurora they were seeing in the sky! So I went outside with my phone and was able to snap a few myself. The pink lights in particular are weird because you can’t really see them at all with the naked eye, though looking through a phone, there they are. But I wouldn’t have known they were even appearing if it weren’t for those shared photos.
